Inspirations

"Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." - John 10:7, 9-10

"The Christian faith is not true because it works. It works because it is true." - Os Guinness

PRAYER MOTIVATOR

"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." - James 4:3

"Some stand on tiptoe trying to reach God to talk to him – you try too hard, friend – drop to your knees and listen to him, he’ll hear you better that way." - Ever Garrison

SOUL-WINNING MOTIVATOR

"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." - Mark 16:16

"Lost! Lost! Lost! Better a whole world on fire than a soul lost! Better every star quenched and the skies a wreck than a single soul to be lost!" - Charles Spurgeon

American and European Religious Freedom Officials Meet on Ways to Combine Efforts to Fight Global Persecution

February 15, 2014

Left to right, Commissioner Mary Ann Glendon of U.S. foreign policy positions toward religious freedom; Dennis de Jong and Peter van Dalen, co-presidents of the EU working group; Katrina Lantos Swett, vice chair at USCIRF; and Heiner Bielefeldt, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on freedom of religion, pose for a photo during their meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. RNS photo by Brian Pellot

In the first meeting of its kind, members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom met with the European Parliament’s working group on freedom of religion or belief to explore opportunities for trans-Atlantic and international cooperation.

“One nation speaking alone may just be accused of name-calling, but many nations speaking together will certainly have an effect, and that’s what we hope to see,” said Commissioner Mary Ann Glendon of U.S. foreign policy positions toward religious freedom.

Heiner Bielefeldt, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on freedom of religion, delivered the keynote speech Wednesday (Feb. 12) at the European Parliament in Brussels. He noted increased interest in religious freedom in recent years but said that the topic is often viewed with unease or suspicion.

“Freedom of expression, being the epitome of liberal rights, is seen as a green light for provocation,” Bielefeldt said.

Freedom of religion, on the other hand, is often considered a stop sign. In Bielefeldt’s view, this “misguided” assumption stems from religious defamation, hate speech, blasphemy and apostasy being used to stifle expression.

Dennis de Jong and Peter van Dalen, co-presidents of the EU working group, discussed the group’s first annual report on freedom of religion in the world. They argued that religious freedom should be given more prominence in EU foreign policy and gave recommendations for 15 countries where the situation is particularly dire.

“In Egypt, Coptic Christians must be able to freely and safely practice their faith. In Pakistan, we demand that hate speech be scrapped from school books, in particular where they are subsidized by the EU. In India, we’d like to see states that have introduced anti-conversion legislation repeal those provisions,” van Dalen said.

In its 2013 report, the U.S. commission recommended that the State Department re-designate Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan as countries of particular concern for religious freedom. The body also recommended that Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam be added to this list.